Reddit reviews Spice: The History of a Temptation

You'll want to read "Spice, The History of Temptation"

It's a pretty in-depth look at the spice trade all the way back to antiquity. I highly recommend it. It doesn't necessarily focus on drugs, but it will give you a LOT of information, including famous people, places, and all the major events tied to the spice trade.

Actually, I've thought about this off and on for years... ever since the days of Civilization II really, the lighter definitely helps, but first and foremost, if not immediately killed, sold into slavery, or burned as some sort of heretic... you will first need to figure out some way to actually be integrated into the community. I know I'm probably taking this a bit too far but... where 2,000 years ago? Rome? Africa? Americas? Australia? China? Exactly where I am right now?
Regardless, I generally think of Europe, thus Rome, thus... relative cultural diversity, thus people being used to people speaking different languages. The slavery is just as big here as anywhere else but... point stands... the lighter could/should help out with getting into the good graces of someone who'd want to spare you. From there... theres a plethora of things, steam engine, base mechanics and gears, simple principals of physics, water works, medicine, technologies or sciences unbeknown to the people of the time. I would say that much of this is novelty. What I've really concluded would be nearly as important as technology (though, obviously applicable) would be a good understanding of a resource map. Gold reserves, silver, diamonds, aluminium, iron, copper, coal, oil, ... hell.. aquifers... haven't changed in a very long time... longer than we've been around. Thus, I'd say, its safe to say, a decent knowledge of these places would definitely get you in the good graces of some powerful people. Hell, imagine what a shallow oil well or easily mine-able coal deposit would/could do. Aquifers? hell, you could green the Sahara if done properly.
Windmills and various other mechanical pumping technologies could go a long way.

I recently read the book Spice: The History of Temptation, and it really opened my eyes to the value of... spice. Its a ridiculously simple thing, taken for granted by the modern world's abundance of it but... just as simple as knowing what grows where, when, and how to get it around... still a lucrative business but, back in the day, the reason for empires. Invention exactly? no, but introduction to something new? absolutely. Again, resource maps help with this.

A good understanding of glass could take you places. Also an interesting history behind it... should look it up

But, above all, one of the main things would have to be water purification. It sounds so simple but... probably wouldn't make it very long without it. This is where my adventure in this always leads me to... why do I need to travel back in time to give inventions to other people when so many people today are lacking the common knowledge of basic fundamentals that we so easily take for granted or dismiss. I'm not trying to be all greeny-hippy, bleeding heart... its just to say, look at that windmill kid from Malawi just a few years ago... or the hundreds who die every hour just from lack of access to basic water. Its just to say, there is so much basic, innate information that we hold in our heads that we're exposed to on a constant basis that people today, let alone 2000 years ago have barely a basic handle on. I read in a New York Times article just today about a UCSD study out this month about how the average American in 2008 consumed 34gb's a day of data, included in that was exposure to over 100,000 words. They gave a point of reference that Tolstoy's "War and Peace" was 460,000 words.

I'll end this long annoyance of a rant with... population. I'm not saying a few people often times isn't a few too many but... the global population was like 250million people 2000 years ago. Wrap your mind around what that means and apply it to the impact of your actions of any (disruptive) technology you'd introduce

Most of this information is from Spice: The History of a Temptation, which is quite a good book if you're interested in more of the sources.

One good example from Turner's book, is how he talks about how one of the few culinary sources from the early medieval period is a treatise on dietetics by Anthimus, an Ostrogothic ambassador. Unfortunately, most of his recipes don't have the refinement of earlier Roman ones, and usually involve saturating pieces of beef with "no fewer than fifty peppercorns, further spiced with cloves, costus, and spikenard."

Turner talks about how this is likely because cooking was less about the balance of flavor, and more about the spice's role as medicine for good health. This appeared to be the case with most other recipes, as the book details recipes for healing sores of the mouth that involved emmer groats mixed with pepper.

But certainly spice still held a central place in the early medieval imagination, and since you were asking about poems, here's one Turner cites as a riddle written by Saint Aldhelm (639-709 CE), who was related to King Ine of Wessex, to which the answer is obviously pepper.

I am black on the outside, clad in a wrinkled cover,
Yet within I bear a burning marrow.
I season delicacies, the banquest of kings, and the luxuries of the table,
Both the sauces and the tenderized meats of the kitchen.
But you will find in me no quality of any worth,
Unless your bowels have been rattled by my gleaming marrow.

I'm assuming this riddle was tougher back in the day. =)

Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky. A surprisingly fun read and interesting read.

A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage. Another fun read. Touches on some great topics, like the "which came first: beer or bread" debate, but doesn't go into topics as deeply as I would have liked.

I haven't read these two yet, but it's on my list:

Spice: The History of a Temptation by Jack Turner

An Edible History of Humanity by Tom Standage

Spices are pretty interesting. I know you didn't ask for a reading list, but if you are a reader, and you love food, history and plants, check these out.

Spice: The History of a Temptation.

For a more political look - Full Planets, Empty Plates.

Also a good read...